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This post is from from my other blog here Yesterday's Post section by Jay Mathews on picking a good school should be helpful to some (evidently only those who read his whole column, though), but there's some serious flaws. We'll be brief in responding to each of his 10 points, as parents who've actually been through and are experiencing the process... 1 - "Buy an expensive home and you can almost be sure the local public school will be good" - that's technically somewhat accurate, but there's a lot of range inside the word "good" - that's where the rubber meets the road. 2 - "Look at the data" - absolutely. 3 - "Talk to at least 2 parents of children in different grades engrolled in the school you are considering" - great advice, if you're able to find parents willing to share; you're probably better off trying to do this online - blogs/forums like this are an increasingly-used method for quick communication. 4 - "Visit the school and ask to speak to the principal" - this is fabulous advice, especially the part about "would I hire this person to work in my office"? The problem is, Principals change. Our Elementary School's initial Principal was an efficient, effective Manager of resources and capabilities - the current Principal we wouldn't hire to wash our car work in our office, and ALL indicators of the school's success profile are on their way down. We'd say speak to some of the Teachers, as well, about their "Boss". 5 - "Listen to your Kids" - certainly, and their friends. 6 - "The most competitive high schools do not necessarily lead to acceptance at the most selective colleges" - this is the ongoing undercurrent of Jay's knocking the merits and perceived value among driven parents of Thomas Jefferson (regional magnet school); while it is true that colleges look for the "whole package", why wouldn't you strive to challenge your child to the very greatest limits of their abilities and interests? 7 - "Don't worry about Elementary School" - Jay makes the point that Parents are the greatest influencers and supporters of children during these years, and if the school is safe and you like it, "relax". In our experience, the majority of parents are utterly un-involved in school, especially with respect to core academics (vs. sports), and this avoidance plus "non-worrying" leads directly to lax policies, non-motivated students, non-differentiated teaching, utter discpline chaos and rampant laziness in the classrooms, principals who aren't respectful or effective, and kids whose most impressionable and potential-filled years of learning and brain-expansion are utterly wasted. There's plenty to worry about in a mediocre Elementary School. 8 - "There are no good middle schools" - this is obviously and patently absurd...and if I'm not worrying about Elementary school, and there's no good middle schools, my kids have now spent 9 years wasting away like turnips in our society's drive to create an unmotivated, uncompetitive, brainless population that's the laughing-stock of the rest of the world. There are, obviously some very good middle schools...achieving Algebra I by the end of the eighth grade is an exceptional goal that indicates a good school? Why not Algebra I by the end of 6th grade, like a certain subsection of students are actually achieving in some extremly good private middle schools? 9 - "Look for challenging high schools" - certainly, but I'd hope that all high schools are challenging to some degree, in some range of subjects - be sure also to focus on challenges in academics vs. sports. 10 - "Listen to your heart" - well, sure....but listen very attentively and frankly to those that have gone before and are currently there - perhaps your heart needs to be over-ruled. |
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This post is from from my other blog here Last night's School Board meeting in Loudoun County wasn't the circus some may have expected, over removal of the Penguin book from general access at the particular Elementary school. Several very good commentaries, from the public and supervisors, an explanation from the Superintendent, a quick "stand-up" from 40 or so black-and-white-with-buttons wearing supporters of penguin rights, lots of "deflecting" of the issue in favor (rightly so) of focus this next week on preserving the School Budget request for next year - and I believe the issue was effectively, professionaly and courteously addressed. More discussion around policy and procedure to come, next month. No time to fully explore all the great material out of the meeting, that'll be in the next post. |
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This post is from from my other blog here OK, time for a little Government/Web 2.0 challenge. If you don't know what that means, it's basically an Internet-age term for the easier-than-ever ways in which the general public can individually interact with their government (or businesses) using all manner of free feedback and collaboration tools. Here's an example from your Federal Government. Do a Google search on "Loudoun School Blogs". At this second (since the search engine result pages, or "SERPS", change constantly), here's what you get on the first and second result pages: 1 - Loudoun Schools Feedback - that's us! 2 - Gateway to Loudoun County - prominent and popular Loudoun County blog 3 - Loudoun School Blogs - LoudounPedia - roundup of blogs in a great local Wiki 4 - Blogs Loudoun Times - the only local newspaper with local bloggers 5 - Our Loudoun Schools Loudoun Times - John Steven's reprints in the Times 6 - Our Loudoun Schools - John Stevens (School Board, Potomac District) 7 - Linked Up in Loudoun | LoudounExtra.com - daily review of Loudoun Blogs 8 - Loudoun School Talk Site Launched - Living in LoCo - news item about us 9 - Living in LoCo | LoudounExtra.com | The Washington Post - local blog about Loudoun 10 - Loudoun School System Recognized...Dec 24, 2006 ... old news item from the Post 11 - Loudoun Schools Dais - Tom Reed's blog (School Board - at large) 12 - Loudoun Democrats - blog news item 13 - washingtonpost.com- May 8, 2007 - news item 14 - Our Loudoun Schools - another John Stevens entry 15 - Mommy Life - local blogger with very religious, family-oriented themes 16 - LoudounExtra.com - local blog listing (pointing to us and John Stevens) 17 - Tango is Available to Parents - Loudoun Times - news item 18 - www.citizenet.com - aggregator of blog items 19 - Loudoun Travelers - seeking those looking for school break travel packages 20 - Loudoun Blogs/Wikis - LoudounPedia - local blog roundup For a business (i.e. the LCPS) prepared to spend nearly a Billion dollars in taxpayer funds, approximately 85% of the budget of one of the "wealthiest per capita" counties in the country, that's all the public, online discussion you get. You get our little blog, 1 regular and 1 intermittent school board members' blogs, 2 newspapers, 1 newspaper blog, ...and that's basically it. Where's everybody else? We know full well that emails are the preferred medium for parent-to-parent-teachers-to-administrators communications, using computers....but it's time to leverage the rest of the web. That's what we're teaching our children to do, in school, by the way. There do exist a smattering of online conversations about the schools elsewhere, like in local HOA discussion groups, homeschooling support sites, professional sites like Teachers.net, and high school Facebook groups; but it's simply appalling that more adults aren't involved online in the discussion. Here's the challenge - start a blog, wiki, threaded discussion group, portal, website - any kind of online forum/mechanism for public comment on local, Loudoun education and school topics (private, public or otherwise). Regularly update and promote it, so that it gets to page 1 or 2 in the Google SERPs. Who'll be first on the board? What group or area of the county, or school district, has the most Internet-savvy and Web 2.0/Government 2.0 engaged parents? Can more teachers and adminstrators learn to blog, or at least figure out ways to blog anonymously en masse? Right now - here's the grades, in terms of "Taxpayer, Administration and Parental support for Loudoun County students, as Demonstrated by Degree of Government/Web 2.0 Online Engagement (not including email)" - (Ordered by Google Rank, then graded by the criteria above) 1) "Dulles South District Area" - ( Grade=B ) - we obviously are in the Google lead (and will likely always be, with our secret sauce), but traffic isn't as high as it should be, and our District School Board rep isn't online (only via email) 2) "Potomac District" - ( B+ ) - John Stevens is fabulous online, and has a bit of an edge from the number of comments perspective (but still, a shockingly low number) 3) "Journalists" (WAPO - LoudounExtra) - (B-) - while Loudoun-centric educational material is usually pretty good (it's a Multi-Million dollar business, after all, with professional reporters), it's not as active from a feedback/comment perspective as it should be, and tends to focus more on "objective news" vs. "subjective and objective issues and ideas" we all need to talk about. 4) "At Large School Board Members" - (C+) - while an admirable start last year, there's only been 5 entries from Tom Reed since last Summer, and few comments. 5) "Politicos" - (Too Conservative) - (C) - definitely gets good traffic and comments from the local political club, but school topics are sparse and typically relegated to budget/election issues. 6) "Christian Moms" - (Mommy Life) - Loudoun-based, and sometimes Loudoun-focused with respect to special needs in the schools 7) "Government-Watchers" - (The Municipalist) - (C) - Loudoun-based, but not Loudoun-focused - still manages to get in very worthwhile commentary about Loudoun Schools once in a while. 8) "Teachers" - (Teachers.net, Virginia forum) - (B) - some pretty good mix of parent/teacher discussion, though only tends to flare up once in a while...not promoted much, as well, nor is entirely Loudoun-centric. Get going - if you need help with how to go about online blogging and such, drop us a line... |
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This post is from from my other blog here We won't dive deep into this local Loudoun book-banning issue, since our only reliably online School Board member, John Stevens, is so adeptly handling the local reporting already. But, it obviously deserves a quick comment. It's nonsense, all around. It's utter nonsense that a children's book, that's received many, many distinguished awards from very competent, educated teachers, non-academic professionals and parents, is pulled from the shelf. It's utter nonsense that a single parent's objection isn't vetted further than it seems to have been. It's utter nonsense that we're all blogging and emailing about THIS, while, in the meantime, it's more than halfway through second grade and still half the class can't do simple subtraction or multiplication AT ALL, or without "manipulables". It's also blatant and rampant hypocrisy, though unintended of course, that our Elementary School children are exposed daily to blatant displays and discussion of alternative lifestyles, including very-nearly cross dressers, comments from teachers about "living with my boyfriend", etc. Happens ALL the time, as commonly discussed among student and parents. The penguins are much more modest and socially-responsible. Believe us, most children by the 4th-grade really do understand these social differences, and really don't care. However, a good test and scrubbing of LCPS communications protocol, school board policy and adherence to state regulations, and some degree of "awakening" by an incredibly indifferent (to the status and progress of local education) population of Loudoun parents (just heard a new one this week, the PTA referred to as the "Party Talk Association") is all a good thing. All about a nice (and true!) little penguin book, that when searched for online, is Allowed (by our Internet Filtering/Protection Software), while the School Board member's blog was Not Allowed...need to check our filters, obviously. |
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This post is from from my other blog here (From Leesburg Today) - "Loudoun County Public Schools administrators are holding a series of meetings to brief parents on the Investigations math program that will be used as the primary curriculum at a small number of elementary schools. Investigations is a K-5 mathematics curriculum, developed at TERC in Cambridge, MA. It is designed to help all children understand the fundamental ideas of number and operations, geometry, data, measurement and early algebra through the use of inquiry activities. Parent meetings will include information about research available about the program and a description of the outcomes administrators will measure to determine whether to continue or expand use of the curriculum. The first parent meeting was held Feb. 11 at Rolling Ridge Elementary School. Upcoming meetings will be held at Tolbert ES Feb. 25, Hutchison ES Feb. 28, Sanders Corner ES March 10 and Round Hill ES March 27. All meetings begin at 6:30 p.m. Well, we'll have to balance this meeting against the ever popular Modern Loudoun Moms Meetup event at San Vito's in South Riding, the same night! (By the Modern Loudoun Moms Magazine folks). |
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This post is from from my other blog here Shelly Scheyder, a beloved and devoted second grade teacher at Little River Elementary and South Riding resident, is ill and has been unable to work since October. Despite undergoing a battery of tests ordered by several specialists, none of them has yet been able to diagnose her. Shelly has taught and lived in our community for almost 10 years, and along with her husband Mark, unselfishly devoted some time to missionary work while raising three wonderful children. Shelly and her family now need your help. We would like to raise funds to help defray the cost of her mounting medical bills and seek further diagnosis and possible treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. More Information... |
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This post is from from my other blog here Well, it's happened again here in Dulles South, and now at an Elementary School. A fourth-grader last week (and accomplices) added some soap to another's drink in school (update 2/21 - according, "officially", to LCPS, four students spoke about putting soap in another’s cup, and one of these students told a teacher - the four were counseled by the principal and guidance staff - no soap was actually put in anybody’s cup) (another update - 2/23 - this statement isn't entirely accurate, either, as we've got the exact, insider details, from kids, parents and the Principal) - while details are sketchy, not much seems to have been done about it (class parents weren't informed, the child wasn't punished by the school....according to school administration, "the kids really don't know about it, so we didn't feel the need to bring it up to others..."). Let that sink in a bit.... Recalling the Mercer Purell-in-teacher's-drink incident this past Fall (with the teacher hospitalized from this very toxic exposure), we probably dodged another bullet on this one. Thankfully and very luckily the soap of choice wasn't a more poisonous chemical, as most fourth-graders don't know the difference between hand soap, bleach and draino. Number one - all the kids certainly do know about the incident, they've informed their parents. Number two, there needs to some serious, immediate education levied in all schools about the absolute dangers of poisons and classroom "antics" like this. Number three, there needs to be a bit more honest transparency on part of the schools with all parents, regarding incidents, dangers, the need to educate at home on social behavior, etc. Number four, the schools need to come down very hard, even on an Elementary School student and their parents, in situations like this - sure it was just 'soap', and no one was seriously injured - but there's a serious, future incident brewing in a local child's psyche, and it, along with any potential copycats, needs to be nipped in the bud. |
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This post is from from my other blog here Per this post at Gateway to Loudoun County, yesterday's joint Loudoun County School Board, Board of Supervisors and Economic Development Commission meeting was fruitful, and a good step in a reasonable, albeit long-term process of collaboration and inclusion between the stakeholders... |
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This post is from from my other blog here Do you have a good story of a teacher going above and beyond? We've got plenty, here's a couple...short and sweet - A local Kindergartner went in to school several times with various leftover indicators of night-time battles against exczema-based itching...after a few weeks of this, his teacher personally came by with some great suggestions she'd found helpful for combating persistent exczema, including a new type of kid's vitamins she'd seen. Nice, considerate and thoughtful gesture, on her own time. Another teacher takes it upon herself (and she's started a trend), when dismissing first-graders outside the school door, to make absolute eye contact with each and every child's parents before letting them walk away after school....no other teacher did this when she started, but more are doing it now. More? |
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This post is from from my other blog here but the date got messed up, so it's 2 down, right before the "what this blog is" post. |
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This post is from from my other blog here You've heard about them, places like Myspace, Facebook, etc., the "social media" sites built to allow people to share their world and friends with each other. You've also heard, no doubt, of sexual predators using these anonymous mediums to hone their craft. Now there's new legislation proposed in New York - From Media Daily Online - "The Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act, would require sex offenders to register their email addresses and instant message screen names. That information would be turned over to social networking sites, which could then prevent people from creating profiles. Several weeks ago, MySpace said it was ousting convicted sex offenders from the site by comparing names of users with state databases." This is good legislation, that should truly become national legislation, though obviously there are worlds of issues with respect to enforceability - we believe these sorts of convicted or charged felons should simply not be allowed to use online, electronic communications medium. In fact, all of their phone calls should be either recorded, or intercepted by proxy for approval. Just like if they tried to walk into a school, they'd be intercepted by security officials. |
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